[jolepp]

A short (~13 min) BBC documentary:

BBC News - Newsnight - Defectors throw light on harsh realities of life in North Korea

edit:

Strange natural phenomena have been witnessed in North Korea since the death of the country's leader Kim Jong-il, the state news agency KCNA reports.

Ice cracked on a famous lake "so loud, it seemed to shake the Heavens and the Earth", and a mysterious glow was seen on a revered mountain top, KCNA said.
...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16297811

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Last edited by jolepp; 12-22-2011 at 07:13 AM.

[jolepp]

...
But in truth, what North Korea actually does is anyone's guess.

After all, when Kim Jong-il was alive, we didn't know a lot about how things worked in Pyongyang. Now that he is gone, we know even less.

BBC News - Life after Kim Jong-il: What next for North Korea?

edit:

Also, the major local newspaper Helsigin Sanomat had an editorial, for which they provide an English translation:

HS: No end in sight to nepotistic oppression in North Korea

[jolepp]

BBC News - North Korea holds two-day state funeral for Kim Jong-il

[jolepp]

BBC News - North Korea tells world to 'expect no change'

[jolepp]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death was noted on Twitter as an epic loss to golf, with hundreds recalling the Stalinist state media's reports of Kim's 11 holes-in-one in a single round in 1994.

Reports hailed Kim's 38-under par 34 over 18 holes at the 7,700-yard (7,041m) Pyongyang Golf Course in his first try at golf, a feat watched purportedly by 17 security guards protecting the man hailed as 'Dear Leader'.

Kim, who died on Saturday of a heart attack at age 69, was 52 at the time he purportedly fired a round where birdie was his worst score on any hole.
...

Golf world mourns Kim Jong-il - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[jolepp]

The brother of North Korea's new dictator says he believes the collapse of the regime in Pyongyang is inevitable.

Kim Jong-nam is the older half-brother of North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un.

In a book based on email exchanges and interviews with Kim Jong-nam, which will be released in Japan later this week, he says the North Korean military has become so powerful it will likely step in and take power from his younger brother.

He says the 28-year-old Kim Jong-un is merely a puppet of the elites and warns North Korea is very unstable.
...

Dictator's brother predicts coup in N Korea - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[VisualDarkness]

Dictator's brother predicts coup in N Korea - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Coup attempts are inevitable in a situation like this, but you never know how a person handles it.

[Davidw0815]

Can't say I'm heartbroken myself. Hopefully this means better times are ahead for the North Korean people. Peaceful unification with the South down the line, perhaps, akin to that of West and East Germany (?). Also, things could turn very, very ugly.

I'm pretty sure that where will be no unification. If you compare the situation with East Germany you have to keep in mind that there was industry in the east, the average sallery was half of the western salery and the West German population was three times bigger. And still there was the need for massive investments. After more than twenty years East and West are still not at the same level when it comes to salery, unemployment rates etc... And Germany is deep in debt.
Now, when you see the situation in Korea, where North and South have almost the same population and the average salery is around 25 times higher in the South. I'm pretty sure that nobody in the South really wants a unification with the North and risk to ruin the booming economy and wealth.